It’s only his second day in the city of angels, but Jihoon’s already lost. His mind is already devoid of thoughts; drawing a blank of what he should do. He’d never gotten lost, being a homebody who never had the chance of going on a proper holiday. But now on his first ever trip in forever, in a foreign country, no less – this is why he hates travelling; he could be hibernating in the safety of his apartment in Seoul, rather than being surrounded by a million tourists in Los Angeles.

He’s too shy to ask for directions, besides, he can’t find the right words in the correct language to ask anybody. So he stands there right next to Johnny Depp’s star, looking like a little lost boy. His mind is empty, save for a random chorus of ‘mansae mansae mansae yeah’ on loop in his mind, which is uselessly inappropriate given the circumstances. When someone shouts at him to move out of the way (since he’s practically a human statue standing on Depp’s star) he takes a while to comprehend; then robotically moves out of the way.

Amid the mansae’s in his mind, his mother’s words pop out of nowhere: “If you get lost, stay where you are. Mummy will find you.”

Flashes of melted chocolate and little Soonyoung’s sticky hands on a hot summer afternoon play through his mind. He remembers that one time he’d gotten lost playing hide and seek with Soonyoung in the park when they were little kids, and it had been his mother who’d found him in a bramble of bushes in the most deserted corner of the local park. Soonyoung had given up seeking for him; going to Jihoon’s mother, crying that his best friend was gone after ten minutes of looking.

But he knows that this time, his mother won’t come and find him, since: a) he’s a grown man; and b) he’s halfway across the world, too far away from home. Jihoon starts re-evaluating his life choices, starting from middle school, followed by high school, then university. All those years, he’s always taken the safest choice, the one that would please everyone around him except for himself.

He realises that his life has been so, so mundane all along, and this is the first exciting thing that’s happened to him in years, not counting the time Mingyu from Human Resources accidentally set a small fire to the company’s pantry, and Jihoon had been the one to put it out (coincidentally, he’d learnt how to use a fire extinguisher right before that from WikiHow, during an unprecedented internet browsing session).

Jihoon wants to be his own person, but he still needs to figure out who he is. That’s why he’d run away from his boring desk job in Seoul, to find himself. He’s been a puppet all those years, doing what others want him to do. But he needs time to understand himself – he feels like he has no character, almost like a robot; doing the things that he has no interest in. He doesn’t remember the last time he felt happy and carefree like Soonyoung, and he’s set out to find that, whatever it takes.

It takes a few more dull memories to pass by before Jihoon straightens out his thoughts. He can’t be hanging around forever lost, waiting for someone to find him – he’s got to stand on his own two feet and find his own way back. Both literally and figuratively, but now it’s more pressing that he finds his way back to Soonyoung – finding himself can come whenever it’s appropriate.

Jihoon starts thinking through all the possibilities to contact Soonyoung. His own cell phone doesn’t have a roaming plan, so he can’t call Soonyoung’s American number with his Korean number (WikiHow’s How to Travel Internationally page did advise to get a prepaid number for travelling purposes, but he didn’t bother). He flicks on the wifi instead, trying to find a signal and maybe text Soonyoung through Kakao, though the chances of him looking at his phone is highly unlikely.

Jihoon holds his phone up high, trying to find a signal, but he isn’t tall enough, and the tourists surrounding him like a wall don’t help at all. He tries jumping up, and his phone suddenly connects to a public wifi network; but the signal disappears once he lands on the ground. He tries again a couple of times, with the same result; and a couple of people glance at him like he’s a bunny on a pogo stick.

“HOONIE! WHERE ARE YOU?” Soonyoung’s voice pops out from the crowd, and Jihoon’s head snaps in the direction from where it’s coming from. He stays put, still adhering to his mother’s advice: “if you get lost, stay where you are.” Jihoon’s sure that he’s not hallucinating due to the intense heat, because he hears Soonyoung’s voice again – it’s pretty hard to miss it since Soonyoung’s practically a human loudspeaker. 

The idiot’s repeating his call in three different languages – English, Korean and Japanese - for some unknown reason, and Jihoon manages to roll his eyes at the ridiculousness. He’s expecting Soonyoung to head towards his direction, but his best friend’s voice starts disappearing: he’s probably taken a different turn, away from Jihoon.

Jihoon knows that it’s now or never, though he doesn’t exactly know where Soonyoung is, he calls out for him as well. “SOONIE! I’M HERE! SOONIEEEEEEE, YOU IDIOT.” Jihoon rushes through the gaggle of European tourists alighting from a tour bus, bumping into a couple of them, but he doesn’t relent, eyes peeled for his best friend.

Soonyoung’s standing on the corner, narrating into his camera with a sad expression (probably reporting about Jihoon’s disappearance) when Jihoon spots him.

“Soonie!” Jihoon shouts, louder than he’s ever done in the past five years. He runs over to his best friend, as Soonyoung finally pops his head in Jihoon